GOLD FIRM
Rangers new boy Connor on why heart op meant he couldn’t say no to his ‘hero’
CONNOR GOLDSON admits the heart problems that left his career in doubt influenced his decision to quit Brighton for regular football at Rangers.
Defender Goldson joined Steven Gerrard’s Rangers revolution yesterday for £3.5million on a four-year deal worth around £25,000 per week.
And the 25-year-old says the chance to play more often after once fearing his career might be over was too good to turn down.
Goldson was diagnosed with a heart defect in January 2017 and thought he might never play again.
Had he not had surgery, Goldson revealed he might even have died on the pitch, but he was able to return to action after an operation.
However, Goldson, who missed the second half of Brighton’s promotion-winning 2016/17 campaign, was only able to play a bit-part role last term.
And Gerrard’s sixth summer signing, said: “I probably could have stayed at Brighton.
“They weren’t really desperate for me to go but, at this stage, at 25 years old and with the operation I had, it just made me hungrier to want to play football.
“That put a lot of things in perspective and one of those things was to just play as much as I could. Those two years have been tough, but now I have the opportunity to get back playing every week and show what I can do.”
Joining Rangers will see Liverpool fan Goldson work under one of his boyhood idols, and he added: “Steven Gerrard had a massive influence on my decision to sign. But there will be no time for me to be star-struck.
“We have a lot of work to do and want to improve the team.”